At press time,President Obama was considering signing an executive order with new cybersecurity rules to protect U.S. computer systems. While chambers and some business groups are not in favor of the new regulations, John Jorgensen, president of the Sylint Group, a Sarasota information security firm, says small companies are at increasing risk of data breaches. “Sophisticated attack processes are filtering down to smaller companies,” he says.

Since at least 20 percent of malware is not picked up by antivirus programs, says Jorgensen, your company needs to do more to stay protected. If you receive an attachment from an unknown source, open it on a computer that is not connected to your network; make sure employees are not using company computers for pornography, online games or other non-business activities; and do not allow employees to connect personal laptops or thumb drives to the network.

A less recognized aspect of cyber threats, but one that may be even more important, is internal security. “According to the FBI,” says Jorgensen, “the biggest threat—over 80 percent of intellectual property theft—is internal.” Employee termination policies should include a process for immediately cutting off access to company computers, networks and emails, and that process should be made clear when hiring employees.

More than anything, do your research. “Everybody should be going on the Internet and looking up information about current threats,” says Jorgensen, who adds that cyber- security should be a budgetary priority: “Spend as much money as you can on IT. It’s an ugly situation out there, and it’s getting worse.”

 

Overheard

“The way we pay for [healthcare] is higher taxes, so plan for it because it starts in 2013.”

Kathy Hargreaves, CPA, principal with Kerkering Barberio, at Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance’s luncheon, “Healthcare Reform’s Impact on Business” on Aug. 22, 2012.

 

Metric

$180,023,363

Total expenditures on the arts by arts organizations and audiences in Sarasota County in FY 2010.

SOURCE: Arts & Economic Prosperity IV: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts and Culture Organizations and Their Audiences in Sarasota County. For more information about this 2012 study, visit SarasotaArts.org.